The Bare Beginnings
The club was founded in 1967 by Bill Loates, Bill Rhys, & Mike Pearce. It started life with a handful of boy's meeting twice a week for training in Welcome Hall, a tiny church hall near Croydon's Surrey Street Market. The boys' section was run under the direction of the Head Coach Bill Rhys and his wife Catrina. Bill's son, Gareth reached National Squad level and his daughter, Katrin, trained with the girls' section of the club at Haling Manor School. During the period Bill Rhys ran the club, The Champions All competition was founded and first held in Croydon's Fairfield Halls. In 1971, Bill and his family moved to Devon. Bill then handed over the boy's section to a keen and enthusiastic father, Bob Warne who had 3 sons training at the club.

Bob held a Class 4 Men's Coaching Award and became the 2nd Head Coach for boys. It was soon revealed that the church hall was to be demolished and the club was under threat of closure if another venue could not be found. A temporary school hall was found in Thornton Heath before eventually settling at Purley Oaks School where the club is now based. Bob ran the boys' section as Head Coach for 7 years, coaching 2 nights a week. Bob's two eldest son's Ian and Neil both trained at Croydon and at a club called The T.V.A. Club (Trampoline, Vaulting Agility Club) that was based in South Fields and run by Mike Pearce. There, Ian & Neil met and trained with Jackie Lewis. Eventually Mike encouraged Jackie to further her gymnastics at Croydon Gymnastics Club. It was at this point that Bob asked Jackie to assist with coaching, which she did voluntarily at both the girls' and boys' training sessions for four years. During those years she also gained coaching experience at the YMCA in Wimbledon and Westcroft Leisure Centre in Carshalton.

As the boys' section grew, so did Bob's work as a self-employed carpenter. Bob knew that the club was becoming too much for him to run as well as working full time. The club was again under threat of closure if no one could be found to take it over. Bob approached Jackie and asked if she would consider taking over and running the club, obviously staying on until she was qualified to do so. So, with a lot of encouragement, Jackie agreed to take over the position as the 3rd head coach. She was sent to Slough College of Higher Education one day every week to attend a course run by Ieuan Parry and Jim Powell. A year later she qualified as a Men's Class 4 coach, and took over the boys' section in 1978 aged only 17! The boy's section grew by opening more evenings a week. The girls' & boys' sections of the club ran in two different schools but under the direction of the same committee.

Inevitably it became necessary for the two sections to go their own ways with separate committees. The club was then renamed Croydon Gymnastics Club for Boy's. Despite lack of funds, the club prided itself on its ability to grow and develop. In 1991 the club started structured gymnastics classes for pre-school children under 5 years, becoming the first to do so in Croydon.
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More Recently
Croydon School of Gymnastics celebrated its 25th Anniversary in June of 1992.

Then, in 1993, the club opened its doors to girls, and for the 3rd time the club's name was changed to Croydon School of Gymnastics. Croydon School of Gymnastics is now acknowledged as one of the top clubs in South West London with considerable success in both regional and national competitions. Competition success is obviously important and the club is rightly proud of the achievements of its top performers and in recognition of this has been named "Club of the Year" twice by the London Gymnastics Federation. However, the club has built its reputation of being a popular and thriving London club, building a firm foundation by catering for various disciplines for all ages, and abilities and now boasts a membership of over 200.

The club runs classes six days a week including classes for:-

• Parent & Toddler's "Fun Gym"
• Pre-School structured Classes for under 5's
• Recreational Classes for age 6-14
• Young Teens & Adults Class (includes working with those wishing to obtain their Equity Card and for those wishing to gain entry on the Stunt Register)
• Work with performers in Theatre, TV and Films
• Competitive Men's & Women's Artistic Gymnastics
• Display Squad
• Team Gym Squad

One of the most exciting developments of the club has been the presence of a renowned choreographer Bob Chandler. Bob was a professional who has in the past choreographed such groups as "Hot Gossip". He worked vastly in the Follie Bergere in Paris and won an Oscar in Las Vegas. He also worked extensively with the British National Squads and our club was delighted to have the chance of him working with our gymnasts. Through his work, we formed displays such as Michael Jackson's Thriller, Duran Duran's Wild Boys and Lightning Express, an original by Bob Chandler. We were picked to represent Great Britain at the 9th World Gymnaestrada in 1991 held in the city of Amsterdam in Holland, enabling our gymnasts to gain an international experience with our display Lightning Express. In February 1994 Bob Chandler retired and moved home from Knightsbridge, London to Worthing by the coast. He past away in 1995. Bob worked with us for over 10 years and is greatly missed by all.

For a while his absence left a big hole in our dance training. However, we managed to find a young enthusiastic dancer called Louise Bateman. She revived one of Bob's old routines, Michael Jackson's Thriller and from there the club decided it was time to get the show on the road again. We were successfully selected again as part of the Great Britain delegation for the 10th World Gymnaestrada in Berlin - July,1995 where we performed Thriller in full costume and make up. In December 1997 we brought on board a professional choreographer, Paul Thompkinson, to assist with classical dance training in order to improve the quality of our girls' and boys' voluntary floor routines. Paul then choreographed the "Mary Poppins" Display Team ready for the 11th World Gymnaestrada in Sweden in July 1999.